Move to Minto
The Town of Minto is an amalgamated, rural community located in southwestern Ontario with a population of 9,000. Move to Minto is the Town of Minto’s resident attraction program/campaign. The main goal of the campaign is to increase awareness and consideration of Minto as a preferred destination for a new home and life among a targeted audience of families, young couples and retirees that are considering a move away from nearby cities south of Minto (1 – 1 ½ hours).
The Town of Minto has a well-established municipal tagline that connects its communities: Where Your Family Belongs. The tagline for the Move to Minto campaign leverages the municipal tagline – “You Belong Here”. We selected this tagline because belonging is the core feeling people seek, and a sense of belonging is fundamental to how humanity organizes itself. Related to this campaign, it is the primary purpose of the Town’s economic, cultural and residential development efforts. Using the word “you” makes the statement relevant and inclusive to anyone who reads it, while reflecting the Town’s commitment to building a welcoming community.
The main goal of the Resident Prospectus is to provide a snapshot to potential residents of what living in Minto is like. Elements included in the Prospectus are displayed in a fun and creative way to tell the story of Minto and include details on: location, working where you live, getting more for your mortgage, belonging and highlights each of the communities that make up Minto (Clifford, Harriston and Palmerston). Throughout the Prospectus there are QR codes that feature stories on residents that help to make an authentic connection with the prospective audience.
The prospectus is used to assist our developers, realtors and staff to promote the community, which in turn helps to promote and sell their properties. This tool is used at Home & Garden Shows in targeted cities such as the Kitchener-Waterloo Home and Garden Show, in model homes in new subdivisions and by realtors at their open houses and showings.
The Resident Prospectus is not meant to act as a stand-alone item and is used in conjunction with our Move to Minto website and award-winning video (Communicator Awards 202) to help tell the story of belonging in Minto. As a result, we have also pre-loaded Move to Minto USB Sticks with the Prospectus and video that can also be shared with interested parties that maybe don’t want a print piece.
We have not had any challenges or changes with this piece to date and feedback from our developers and realtors has been great!
“Thanks so much we definitely will be using and sharing (prospectus and video) both on the website and our up and coming social media material. Were just in the throes of re branding and ramping up for our sales of the 3rd phase of the Palmerston site. Model home opening soon and we would love some hard copy material in the model home”
Steven Wright, Creek Bank Meadows Subdivision, Wrighthaven Homes
Regarding sustainability of this program and being mindful of the community, we engaged real estate developers and local real estate agents in focus groups early in the campaign creation process. This provided insight into the demographic groups that are interested in Minto, the locations people were coming from, and what people were looking for in the community to build our brand identity and campaign, which further informed the development of the prospectus. Additionally, we incorporated all local residents, businesses and locations in our prospectus (no stock photos). All elements of the prospectus were produced by businesses located in Minto (branding, photography and content).
